The worst GM in the NHL award

For several years running we’ve been nominating certain individuals as the “worst GM in the NHL,” as defined by team performance, bad trades and lackluster free agent signings. Last season’s award went to Scott Howson, who has since been fired by Columbus.

Going a bit further back, 2011’s award went to Paul Holmgren, who still holds his post in Philadelphia…for now. 2010’s award went to Darryl Sutter, who was fired shortly thereafter by the Flames. Past nominees include Brian Burke (fired by Toronto), Pierre Gauthier (fired by Montreal) and Garth Snow, among others.

So while these posts are meant to be fun and get us through the dog says of summer, in reality, the nominations really haven’t been too far off.

This year’s post includes returning nominees in Greg Sherman and Dale Tallon, and one newbie in Darcy Regier. Here’s the skinny on all three:

Greg Sherman – Colorado Avalanche

Sherman probably has my vote as the league’s worst GM. He’s been at the helm since 2009 and in that time he’s failed to rebuild a once proud franchise and failed to get this team out of the basement of the Western Conference. Originally nominated two years ago, Sherman has put plenty of head scratchers on his resume.

He sent a young, talented powerforward in Chris Stewart + Kevin Shattenkirk (offensive d-man) and a conditional second round pick to STL for Jay McClement (since signed with the Leafs), a conditional first round pick and Erik Johnson. Johnson, taken first overall in 2006, put up 4 points last season and is entering bust territory. Sherman also traded a first and second round pick for Capital’s castoff Semyon Varlamov, who had a GAA last year over 3.00.

Since those trades, Sherman hasn’t done much to improve their holes except fire Joe Sacco, which was first announced on Twitterd. This past year ownership hired Avalanche legends Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy. Sakic is in the front office and Patrick Roy is the new head coach. I think it’s safe to say Sherman’s days are numbered with those two onboard.

Dale Tallon – Florida Panthers

Tallon has been one of the more active GMs in the league in recent years handing out big contracts to Tomas Fleischmann and Ed Jovanovski and trading for overpaid players like Brian Campbell and Kris Versteeg. With two last place finishes under his belt in three years of running the show, all that activity hasn’t added up to much.

After making the playoffs last season, many thought the Panthers were on the rise, but another last place finish this past year killed whatever enthusiasm that small fan base had left in the tank. Though the Scott Gomez and Matt Gilroy signings this summer could really provide a spark!

Unfortunately, this is a make or break year for the Panthers. South Florida is one of the worst sports markets in the country. There isn’t a whole lot of loyalty among their fans and unless you’re winning championships, there isn’t much monetary support either. The Dolphins, Marlins, and even the Heat have all had trouble selling tickets during lackluster seasons.

With so many bad contracts on that roster (ah Scottie Upshall has an NMC?), and an unwillingness from ownership to buy out a Versteeg or a Fleischmann contract, Tallon may have dug his own grave a bit here. Enjoy Seattle.

Darcy Regier – Buffalo Sabres

Darcy Regier is tied for 3rd among longest reigning GMs in the NHL. For a guy who’s managed the Sabres since ’97 and is in the company of Ken Holland, Sather, and Lou, you’d expect quite the resume. However, after all of those years, the Sabres have had very little postseason success. For a while, I felt bad for Regier. Reporting to bad owners who never give you the budget to resign guys like Drury, Briere, Campbell, etc. is a tough pill to swallow.

Of course, Regier is now blessed with plenty of cash to throw around. The past few years Terry Pegula has written a few blank checks for Darcy. He wasted 6 years, $27M on 1 hit wonder Ville Leino, who has 10 goals since signing two years ago. He also gave a 30 year old Christian Ehrhoff 10 years, $40M and a NMC. This past year he was able to unload a bunch of secondary players for draft picks, but if you’re going to rebuild, more fat will have to be trimmed.

It will be interesting to watch the Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek situations. Both guys are in contract years and likely headed to contenders next July. With little chance at competing this year, you would think how he plays those cards could ultimately decide his own fate.

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5 comments

After reviewing the moves that Philadelphia made, you should have Paul Holmgren at the top of the list again.

Trades away Bob, buys out Brez, and brings back Emery, all great moves for the rest of the division. He then buys out Briere, and brings in Lecavalier to add to his scoring, while if not the worst defense, one of the worst, and didn’t address that issue. Pays big money, and years to Streit as an answer to help his defense, what a joke.

That team is stuck in a time zone, 1974-75-76, Broad Street bullies, and that will never change as long as Snyder ownes that team.

Sherman is the worst. Florida had a ridiculous amount of injuries. They still sucked regardless, but it does give them a little leeway (if that’s how you spell it). Plus they have a really good prospect pool. So that’s something. And I get the feeling Regier didn’t have as much to do with Buffalo’s recent signings as Terry Pegula did. Lucky for Buffalo it looks like they’ve learned quickly and are going through a full-on rebuild. Sherman’s been rebuilding the Avs for years now and they’ve made no progress.

I didn’t see his name and at first I couldn’t believe he wasn’t on the list. The man that I think is the worst GM in the NHL is as the caps fans call him GM GM or George McFee. He has gone years with a solid core of players in Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Green on defense. However, even with those core star players GM has failed to put a balanced group of supporting players. The Caps always lacked scoring depth. Ovechkin and Backstrom are so talented they are almost able to win games alone. They added Ribeiro last summer and he helped the depth but walked over to Phoenix. Now they’re left with some good players but guys playing roles too demanding for them. Laich isn’t a 2nd line Center.
They also have a hole on the blue line as well. Erskine is a nice 5th or 6th defenseman but he has been on their 2nd pair for some time now. That’s not an ideal position to be in for him or the Caps.
GM has failed to fill important roles on his team and in the minors. The Caps are ranked towards the bottom of the NHL in the amount of NHL calibre prospects. McFee had a nice player in Filip Forsberg, a Sweedish player he drafted in 2012 11th overall I believe. He decided to trade Forsberg to Nashville for Martin Erat. That trade made me think I could be an NHL GM. McFee has failed to build a winning NHL squad and a 1st class Minor league system.
Tallon has had his troubles in rebuilding the Panthers but he has one of if not the best pool of prospects in the NHL so he gets a pass from me as the NHL’s worst GM.
Sherman, like McFee has one of the thinnest pools of prospects in the NHL but he has had some very nice young players graduate to the NHL level in Colorado. They have also made a few decent Free Agent moves as well as trades over the last 2 years. I think the Avs are on the cusp of making the playoffs. Regier made the mistake of keeping the same coach too long IMO. They should’ve had a new coach years ago.